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Subject:Re: Interview from hell - another question From:"Steven J. Owens" <puff -at- NETCOM -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 2 Jun 1999 15:07:19 -0700
Rebecca Merck writes:
> Richard Braden makes a good point about how "creepiness" is not maybe a
Richard Braden made the point about hiring based on whim being a
symptom of a highly disfunctional corporate environment. I'm the one
that threw "creepy" into the discussion.
> quantifiable reason not to hire -- and yet, I bet a dollar that if Richard
> had joined that group, both the rest of the group and he would have been
> unhappy because of the personalities involved.
Perhaps, perhaps not. The report, obviously years after the fact
and quite brief, was that I was out of the running simply because one
of the interviewers - one of the last interviewers in a grueling day,
and one out of about a group of seven or eight people - felt I was
"creepy." No analysis, no marked issue of personality conflicts, no
grating mannerism or behavior, not even "I don't think his personality
would integrate well with the group." Simply "creepy."
This is not about making decisions in non-analytical ways. This
is about making decisions in purely abitrary and undefinable ways -
which pretty much fits the definition of a "whim".
> As the Marx Brothers once parodied: I wouldn't want to be a member of a
> club that wouldn't have me as a member.
I think the original quote is along the lines of "I wouldn't want
to belong to any club that'd have me as a member".
Frankly, a job is a job, a company is a company. I wasn't
particularly bothered - though a bit puzzled, particularly after doing
so well at the interview - I didn't particularly care at the time, and
I still don't particularly care. Bothered, no. Boggled, perhaps.
I just have to shake my head and remind myself, once again, of
the classic quote by P.T. Barnum (here's your chance to correct my
misquote :-): "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence
of the American people."
